Ralph Ellison What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue

“What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue?” says the Invisible Man, one of his many famous quotes, in the book the Invisible Man. Written by the one and only Ralph Ellison. Also know as the man who “ gave a new voice to African American Literature” (Ralph Ellison 5 ). Ralph Ellison wrote many contersival short stories and books that dealt with the struggles of the black man during the early 20th century. Ralph Ellison’s personal and professional life would later influence his writing. Growing up Ralph was told and influenced by the struggles of being a black African American in a white society, which later played a big role in his writing. His father was a ex- slave and his mother’s parents were slaves as well so, he was very familiar with these

The many arts he loved consisted of writing, photography, and especially music. His love for music and especially jazz played a big role in Ellison reasons for writing. He even used a lyric from a song by a jazz musician named Louis Armstrong, in his novel the Invisible Man, “What did I do to be so Black and Blue” (Ralph Ellison 6). He first got interested in writing during college after reading a poem by T. S. Eliot called “The waste Land”. He said the rhythm of the poem reminded him a lot of jazz music: “According to Ellison, the rhythm of this poem was similar to his beloved jazz” (Belanger 2). Another big reason for Ellison's influences on writing was the Harlem Renaissance going on in New York while he was in college. The Harlem Renaissance was where a bunch of talented African American writers came together and wrote about the many struggles and hardship Africans Americans faced in the white society in America (Belanger 2). Richard Wright, a poet who Ellison met while in New York and who Ellison admired in college for some of his poems, played a big role as well on convincing Ellison to write ( Ralph Ellison